The International Association of Hebrew Free Loans (IAHFL) is an

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

for Hebrew Free Loan societies, organizations that offer interest-free loans to Jews. There are members around the world, with most in North America. Each member organization has its own rules regarding such things as who may borrow, the maximum loan amount, and the repayment process. However, all offer loans without interest. Hebrew Free Loan societies (such a society is also known as a

Gemach Gemach ( he, גמ"ח, plural, , ''gemachim'', an abbreviation for , ''gemilut chasadim'', "acts of kindness") is a Jewish free-loan fund that subscribes to both the positive Torah commandment of lending money and the Torah prohibition against char ...

) are based on the biblical injunction that Jews may not charge interest to other Jews in need, found in Exodus 22:25: "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act towards them as a creditor; exact no interest from them." The IAHFL provides a forum for independent free loan societies to interact, share information, and helps establish new Hebrew Free Loans. There is an annual conference hosted by a member organization. The IAHFL produces a newsletter several times a year.

Member organizations

Members of the IAHFL include:

United States

* Akron, OH -- Free Loan Association (Akron, OH) *

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

-- Jewish Educational Loan Fund, Inc. (Atlanta) * Atlanta, GA -- Jewish Interest Free Loan of Atlanta, Inc. *

Baltimore, MD Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Baltimore *

Boca Raton, FL Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

-- Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (Boca Raton) * Boston, MA -- Jewish Family & Children Service *

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

-- Hebrew Benevolent Loan Association (Buffalo) * Cincinnati, OH -- Jewish Federation of Cincinnati * Cleveland, OH -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Northeast Ohio *

Dallas, TX Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

-- Dallas Hebrew Free Loan Association * Denver, CO -- Jewish Interest Free Loan of Colorado * Detroit, MI -- Hebrew Free Loan Detroit *

Fort Worth, TX Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accordin ...

-- Tarrant County Hebrew Free Loan Association * Grand Rapids, MI -- Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids *

Houston, TX Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

* Los Angeles, CA -- Jewish Free Loan Association (Los Angeles) * Miami, FL -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of South Florida *

Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

Jewish Free Loan Program (Minneapolis) Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

* Milwaukee, WI -- Milwaukee Jewish Free Loan Association *

New Haven, CT New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

-
Hebrew Burial & Free Loan Association of New Haven
* New Jersey (northern) --

Hebrew Free Loan of New Jersey Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

* New York, NY --

Hebrew Free Loan Society of New York The Hebrew Free Loan Society of New York, founded in 1892, is the oldest money gemach in the United States. It spawned similarly named free-loan funds in many other cities, including Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Holyoke, Mass ...

* New Orleans, LA --

Jewish Family Service (New Orleans) The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (the Jewish Board) is one of the United States' largest nonprofit mental health and social service agencies, and New York State's largest social services nonprofit. Its services are non-sect ...

Paterson, NJ Paterson ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Paterson Hebrew Free Loan Association Paterson may refer to: People *Paterson (surname) *Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales *Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales * Paterson, Queensland, a loca ...

Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia The Hebrew Free Loan Society of Greater Philadelphia (HFLGP) provides interest-free loans to members of the Philadelphia Jewish community in need. Founded in 1984 as the Hebrew Free Loan Society at Beth Sholom and housed at Beth Sholom Congregatio ...

Phoenix, AZ Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United Stat ...

-- Jewish Free Loan of Greater Phoenix *

Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Pittsburgh *

Providence, RI Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Ba ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Providence * Portland, OR -- Jewish Free Loan of Greater Portland * Salt Lake City, UT -- Joseph & Evelyn Rosenblatt Free Loan Fund * St. Louis, MO -- Jewish Loan Association (St. Louis) *

San Antonio, TX ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of San Antonio * San Diego, CA -- Hebrew Free Loan of San Diego * San Francisco, CA -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of San Francisco * Sarasota, FL -- Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Federation * Seattle, WA -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Washington State * Springfield, MA -- Hebrew Free Loan Assn. of Greater Springfield *

Tucson, AZ , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson * Washington, DC -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington * West Palm Beach, FL -- HFL of

Palm Beach County Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

Canada

Calgary, AB Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making ...

-- The Calgary Jewish Family Loan Association *

Hamilton, ON Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Hamilton * Montreal, PQ -- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal *

Toronto, ON Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

-- Toronto Jewish Free Loan Cassa *

Vancouver, BC Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

-- Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver *

Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

-- The Asper Helping Hand Initiative

Outside North America

* Buenos Aires, Argentina -
ACCEDER Hebrew Free Loan
* Jerusalem, Israel -- Israel Free Loan Association * Jerusalem, Israel -- International Free Loan Association for Ukraine Loan Fund * Melbourne, Australia -- Jewish Mutual Loan Company PTY, Ltd.

Annual conference

The IAHFL holds a conference each year (normally in the fall) to provide an opportunity for networking and education. The conference is always hosted by a local Hebrew Free Loan, though the program is generally planned by the International.

Past conferences

October, 2009 Hebrew Free Loan Detroit
October, 2008 Hebrew Free Loan Association of Cleveland
October, 2007 Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver
September, 2006 Hebrew Free Loan Association of South Florida
2005 Hebrew Free Loan Association of San Francisco
October, 2004

Future conferences

2010 Dallas Hebrew Free Loan Association

References

* ''A Credit to Their Community: Jewish Loan Societies in the United States 1880-1945'', by Shelly Tanenbaum,

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

Press, 1993

* ''Micro-Lending: A Non-profit organization, Nonprofit Response to

Economic Crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

'', by Eliezer David Jaff

External links

* {{Official website, http://freeloan.org/, International Association of Hebrew Free Loans -- official website
Coverage of 2008 conference
Jewish charities Microfinance organizations